‘Thalaimai Seyalagalam’ series review: Vasanthabalan’s political drama undone by its predictability and uneven writing

A still from ‘Thalaimai Seyalagalam’
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

There’s a lot to talk about Thalaimai Seyalagalam, ZEE5’s star-studded political thriller that comes as a reassurance that the Tamil streaming space would benefit from the voices of seasoned filmmakers like Vasanthabalan. But before we get into the good and the bad, addressing the ugly is pivotal.

Vasanthabalan’s series — which narrates an intriguing power play between political players eyeing the seat of the Chief minister — undoes itself miserably, thanks to a fumble from the director who seems to have revealed a trump card of a twist during the promotions, and the many spoilsport hints throughout this series. This is disappointing as the series is quite a novel attempt at building an immersive world, and a viewer who looks past this degree of predictability might even wish for a second season.

A lot happens; the story spans across India, almost a dozen characters pull the weight of the story, and there are four intertwined narrative arcs. The bigger narrative revolves around the tricky situation that the incumbent Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Arunachalam (Kishore proves to be a fitting choice), is facing.

The CM is about to be prosecuted in a 17-year-long corruption case, which is the handy work of business magnate Krishnamoorthy (Shaji Chen). To secure his government and defeat his enemies, Aruna turns to his most trusted deputies — Amudhavalli (Remya Nambeesan), his daughter and minister with an eye on his seat; Kottravai (a fantastic Sriya Reddy), political advisor and Aruna’s most trust-worthy confidante; Hariharan (Niroop Nandhakumar), Aruna’s son-in-law and MLA, who has his hands dirty but is hungry for the CM seat; and the most influential of them all, the party’s loyal General Secretary Selvapuviyarasan (Santhana Bharathi).

Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation sends officer Nawas Khan (Adithya Menon) to re-investigate a decades-long trail of gruesome murders — from the feudal lands of Jharkhand to the Naxal forests of Orissa — alleged to have been committed by a woman named Durga. Down south, DCP Manikandan (Bharath) investigates the murder of a police officer and has his suspicions pinned on a woman named Durga (Kani Kusruti), a smuggler and rebel who seems to have a history with Kottravai. Durga’s story forms the fourth arc.

It does seem like a lot for eight 30-minute episodes to handle. But what strikes one instantly is the extremes between the dramatic display of gore in some scenes, the matter-of-fact manner in which shocking crimes are mentioned, and a sense of sedation you find in most stretches, which only adds to the peculiar atmosphere that inhabits the show.

In his series debut, Vasanthabalan seems well-adapted to this style of long-form storytelling; cliffhangers seem organic, background scores are justly used, and there are hardly any unnecessary camera movements or cinematic gimmicks. What truly makes Thalaimai Seyalagam an unusual political drama is how we never see rallies or crowds, reactions of the common folk, rival party men clashing, or dramatic television debates — and it works like a charm. There’s also the smart use of animation to tell some backstories — and a noteworthy re-creation of Nayagan’s “Neenga nallavara kettavara” moment — but you wish the series had used more of this technique to solve the predictability around a central mystery character.

Unfortunately, all this only translates into a mostly engaging but haphazard narrative. The issues, as you might have guessed, are the predictability in the larger narrative and the limited runtime. The schemes that Amudhavalli, Kottravai, and Hariharan plot against each other aren’t as innovative as one hopes, and the politics behind the power plays are as shallow as they can get. All the emotional connection you feel from the initial episodes wither away; this is a series in which influential leaders make their plans over phone calls, and sometimes even literally step onto the ground themselves to do their dirty work.

More space could have also helped the series balance its many players and their arcs, because the attempts to make things interesting are visible, like how many characters have a defining trait. For instance, because she feels too exposed, Amudhavalli finds solace in the dark, and much of Hariharan’s decisions are influenced by tasseography, the fortune-telling method of reading tea leaves.

But Bharath’s Manikandan turns out as quite an ordinary character, a stock cinema cop defined by just one trait: he likes to bend the ways for the greater good. Even his relationship with his girlfriend-cum-fellow policewoman Sundari (Dharsha Gupta) goes nowhere. Being a hardened politician and a third-time Chief Minister, Arunachalam is justified to be tight-lipped, but we hardly see what he’s going through with all that’s happening around him. For all that she brings to the table, Kani Kusruti’s character hardly gets a moment to shine, and Adithya Menon’s Nawas Khan deserved a better ending.

Thalaimai Seyalagam is definitely something new for the audiences but, with a more measured screenplay, tight lips during the promotions, and some red herrings to throw off the predictability, it could have been so much more.

Thalaimai Seyalagam is currently streaming on ZEE5